TEACHERS - do teachers talk to each other abotu pupils?

[nailpolish]

dd1 (5) didnt get on well with her P1 teacher
she was a good teacher, dd1 behaved in class, but they didnt really 'gel'
i dotn knw if youd call it a 'clash of personalities' but ykwim?

i am hoping dd1 gets on better with her P2 teacher - but will her P1 teacher have gone over all the pupils in the class and thereofre possibly tainted her view of dd1 before she has even met her/

(im sure she has already met her but not all day every day)

[TigerFeet]

I would imagine they do talk between themselves tbh but I would hope that they are self aware enough to realise that sometimes it's a personality clash and that different teachers may bond better with different children - "Well I didn't get on with mininailpolish but you will" kind of thing.

Hope so anyway!

[TigerFeet]

(I may well be spouting utter bollocks though - am not a teacher)

[Slouchy]

Yes, we do. Of course. But teachers are very professional and form their own judgements.

we had a catchphrase in my last school, complete with wink "S/He's good for me!" - this acknowledged in a light-hearted way that some kids - even really naughty ones - got on better with certain teachers than others.

I would echo from experience waht tigerfeet says. This sounds very likely as aworst case scenario, esp as your dd is well behaved.

[nailpolish]

yes it s a very small school with only 120 pupils

so i think she maybe knows dd1 already

thanks fro the reassurance!

[Hulababy]

Yes, teachers do talk to one another about pupils.

Sometime sit will be chatty, "off the record" type comments, especially int he staff room over coffee between teachers who are also friends.

Sometimes they will talk professionally about pupils. I would imagien a teacher would pass on information to the next year's class teacher (we did).

But teachers will be professional and make their own judgements when they meet pupils regardless.

[twinsetandpearls]

I talk to other teachers but make my own judgements, I teach kids who really get under my skin but my collegaues find them delightful and the opposite can happen to.

[EffiePerine]

yes they do

yes they should be professional but not always the case

personally I think talking about the children in your class is not a very good idea, but all teachers do it (and I can see that it makes some things easier)

[twinsetandpearls]

Why is it not a good idea?

[twinsetandpearls]

I agree Belgianbun, a number of times I have really struggled with a pupil and spoken to someone else and they have had an approach I had not considered.

[Hulababy]

Why would it not be a good idea to share information about children in your class with ther teachers at the school, especially a teacher who is due to teach them next? I would have thought such communication almost essential to the job.

[EffiePerine]

yes but there is a danger in teachers expecting pupils to be a problem. I know everyone is supposed to be unbiased, but it only takes one bad incident or period for someone to be stuck with a label

[twinsetandpearls]

I am enjoying the summer break as much as I can when you are packing up your whole life into cardboard boxes against an increasingly imminent deadline.

[Hulababy]

EP - would rather take that risk to be honest. IME the worst thing a teacher can do is work on their own, not sharing information with their colleagues, including information about pupils. Schools work best when teachers do talk and pass infomration between them.

[twinsetandpearls]

I agree hula.

[EffiePerine]

bb: I agree but not all are!

Then again, a relative of DH's stomped out of the staffroom because the teachers were gossiping about a pupil and refused to go back for 30 years...

[Hulababy]

EP - what on earth did they say that was so bad? Must have been horrendous stuff for him to leave teaching over it!

IME teachers do chat about pupils informally in the staff room. It is often a way of letting of steam! In exactly the same way that other people chat in their offices and lunch breaks about colleagues and clients, no different. But it doesn't mean it is totally bad. Most teachers just let of steam and move on, the information stays were it was and forgotten about.

TBH most schools wouldn't function if teachers didn;t share infrmatin about pupils.

[Blandmum]

Yes we do. It is essential to help to create the best working realationship with a child.

So for example if I'm having difficulties with X and I know that teacher Y works well with them I ask for advice and we discuss the best ways of coping with X

[EffiePerine]

He didn;t leave teaching, just the staff room! He taught in a prefab away from the rest of the classrooms so spent the rest of the time in there.

sure it wasn't too bad, prob something along the lines of 'how are you finding X, isn't he a pain?' He said it wasn't gentelmanly to disuss such things and stalked off

oddly enough, most of the staff (and the headmaster) loathed him but his pupils loved him...

[Blandmum]

and things have changed in 30 years. the school I work in is wildly unlike the school I went to in the 70s

[Hulababy]

EP - makes a bit more sense, but TBH I do think he probaby seriously over reacted there TBH. To isolate him in such a way cannot of been very nice for him at school, and not really beneficial to him as a teacher either.

Have you seriously never said anything a bit "not so nice" about a client at work before? I can't believe anyone ho works with other people don't sometimes have to let off steam.